I have carefully not told her that the new iPods are out and are 4." Thank goodness she is still holding on to the HTC (something like that) phone her son left her while he is away working on his "failure to communicate."

With all respect, I have to disagree. Even a Galaxy Note 5.3" screen isn't big enough really replace a PC. Just too small.

I thought the 7" Galaxy Tab 7Plus or the Lenovo 7" might do it, if you had a add on keyboard and mouse. But I don't think they will do it if you use the device in the normal PC manner. Just too small to be efficient. Sure if you take enough time with it, it will work, but normally I think you need at least 9" or 10".
I myself had a 10.1 net book for a while, but finally I went to a 11.3 or so, and that seems to work a lot better for a PC.

He was talking about something like the Asus Padfone or Motorola Atrix, where you can just dock the phone in a larger setup and work exactly as you would with a larger setup. So you would essentially dock your phone when you get to work, much like many people dock their laptops. Need a tablet? Just buy a dumb tablet monitor and dock your phone to it. Laptop? Same thing. Another advantage...get a new phone and your PC, tablet, and phone are all up to date.

The technology is available today. The hardware isn't quite there yet and Windows 8 isn't either for an OS, but I think we are closer than a lot of people realize. Phones today can provide all the computing power 90% of consumers need. I'd expect to be able to buy a nice modular setup within 5 years. I need a real PC for work, but for personal use about all I use my laptop for anymore is some internet use, basic multimedia management, and banking. All of which my year-old phone could easily handle given the right interface.

He was talking about something like the Asus Padfone or Motorola Atrix, where you can just dock the phone in a larger setup and work exactly as you would with a larger setup. So you would essentially dock your phone when you get to work, much like many people dock their laptops. Need a tablet? Just buy a dumb tablet monitor and dock your phone to it. Laptop? Same thing. Another advantage...get a new phone and your PC, tablet, and phone are all up to date.

The technology is available today. The hardware isn't quite there yet and Windows 8 isn't either for an OS, but I think we are closer than a lot of people realize. Phones today can provide all the computing power 90% of consumers need. I'd expect to be able to buy a nice modular setup within 5 years. I need a real PC for work, but for personal use about all I use my laptop for anymore is some internet use, basic multimedia management, and banking. All of which my year-old phone could easily handle given the right interface.

Yep, it is obvious that the the computing power is there.

That reminds me that in the new Iron Sky movie, yet to be released,
the mad Nazi scientist on the moon realizes that the phone the captured Astronaut is carrying has the computing power to control the new Nazi giant Dreadnaught.
Then the battery runs out, and they have to send a mission to Earth to find a charger.It is going to be a great movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That reminds me that in the new Iron Sky movie, yet to be released,
the mad Nazi scientist on the moon realizes that the phone the captured Astronaut is carrying has the computing power to control the new Nazi giant Dreadnaught.
Then the battery runs out, and they have to send a mission to Earth to find a charger.It is going to be a great movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They can't just buy a replacement battery on eBay and have it shipped to the moon?